THE MUSICIANS
Andy Maya is a pianist, singer, and organist who resides in the Chicagoland area. He received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Aurora University and Masters of Music degree from Illinois State University. He has provided piano and organ accompaniment to numerous musical events both professional and academic, including choir concerts, recitals, theatre productions, operas, weddings, jazz combos, and rock bands. Andy provides music for services at Faith Lutheran, Our Savior Lutheran Church, and St. Patrick Catholic Church as well as teaching at the Fox River Academy of Music and Art. Andy also works as a collaborative pianist for multiple musical organizations and does freelance work regularly.
Tommy Shermulis is a musician who seeks to bring others together through music. Tommy has displayed great proficiency in many genres of music, including classical, jazz, contemporary, electroacoustic, and more.
Tommy holds a master's degree in clarinet performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Mr. Charles Neidich. Tommy also holds his bachelor's degree from Illinois State University, where he studied with Dr. David Gresham. Tommy has been a winner of the Illinois State University Concerto Competition, the King's Peak International Music Competition, and the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition.
Tommy is currently 3rd/Bass Clarinet for the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. He also performs as a freelance musician and private music teacher based between Chicago and New York. He actively premieres new contemporary works, performs with local theaters, and plays with his classical/jazz duo, the Dynamic Duo.
Sidney Megeff is a mezzo-soprano hailing from Champaign, Illinois. She is a resident artist for the central Illinois-based opera company MIOpera, having performed the roles of Rosina (The Barber of Seville) and Flora (La Traviata: The Motion Picture) during their inaugural season as a professional company.
Sidney's other MIOpera credits include Mercedes in Carmen - for which she also covered the titular role - and "piratical maid-of-all-work” Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance. Most recently, Sidney sang the roles of Second Woman and Second Witch (reimagined as one character by artistic director Tracy M. Koch) in MIOpera's production of Dido and Aeneas, featuring the Central Illinois Ballet.
Sidney performed as a soloist in the Salt Creek Chamber Orchestra Holiday Concert (2021), Vivaldi's Gloria with the Normal First United Methodist Church Choir (2022) and Handel's Messiah with the Illinois State University Civic Chorale (2023). She was also a featured musician for the March 2023 Peoria Riverfront Museum Recital and Dialogue series.
Sidney holds a Bachelor of Music Education and an MM in Voice Performance and Choral Conducting from Illinois State University, where she collaborated regularly with pianist Andy Maya and her longtime coach Dr. Dennis Gotkowski. In addition, she holds a Master of Science in Management from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois.
Sidney studies voice with Professor John M. Koch. Outside of singing, she works at Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois as an academic advisor.
Holly is the choral director at Waubonsee Community College, where she directs the Chorale and the Chamber Choir. This is her thirteenth year teaching voice and various other music courses at Waubonsee. She also directs the treble choir at Lisle High School and directed the Cantabile Singers as part of the Fox Valley Music Consortium for two years. Holly taught middle school and high school choir in Plainfield, Il and North Stonington, Ct. She also teaches voice and piano lessons from her home in Aurora. Holly sings with the Fox Valley Chamber Singers, the Fox Valley Orchestra Chorus and sang Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Beloit College Choirs and the Beloit Janesville Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Robert Tomaro. She also sang in the Westerly Chorus in Westerly, RI under the direction of George Kent for two years and had the pleasure of working with Sir David Wilcocks at Camp Ogontz (a summer music camp associated with the Westerly Chorus). One of the highlights of her musical career was singing Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion” under the direction of the renowned German conductor Helmuth Rilling at the Valparaiso University chapel. Holly has a Masters in Music from Northern Illinois University, a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Concordia University in River Forest, and a Bachelors of Music from Valparaiso University. She resides in Aurora with her husband, son and daughter.
Brazilian cellist, pedagogue, and composer Bianca d’Avila do Prado is cello faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and online instructor for the University of Idaho Preparatory Division. She coordinates the Third Coast Suzuki Strings, a tuition-free cello program for the community in Evanston, IL and often plays as a guest musician with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and the MIC Academy Orchestra.
Bianca was recently nominated as a “Distinguished Young Teacher” by the Suzuki Association of the Americas, a recognition awarded to teachers who exemplify the theory and practice of the Suzuki Method. She was also a recipient of the Music Institute of Chicago Teacher of Note Award, presented to teachers who represent the excellence of the entire MIC’s internationally acclaimed, award-winning faculty, demonstrating dedication, enthusiasm, and inspiration in their teaching.
Ms. Prado holds Master of Music in Cello Performance and String Pedagogy degrees from Illinois State University. At ISU, she completed her cello studies under Dr. Adriana Ransom and Dr. Cora Swenson-Lee, receiving a scholarship to work as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the ISU String Project, and was the ISU Symphony Orchestra principal cello. She has recently finished her teacher training through all 10 Suzuki books and continues her cello and pedagogy studies as part of Dr. Tanya Carey’s studio.
Bianca actively works on making Brazilian music for strings more accessible and performed in the US. Her article "Teaching Diversity: Four Brazilian Pieces for String Orchestra" was published in The Scroll magazine from the Illinois ASTA in 2021. Another article, titled "Viajando Pelo Brasil I, Suite for Strings: A Fun way to Explore the Richness of Brazilian Culture and Music", was published in the American String Teacher magazine in 2022.
After being one of the five pieces selected in a competition of contemporary works for strings, Bianca’s composition Brazilian Habanera was recently published as part of the Mosaic: A Collection of String Music by Black and Latino Composers Beginning Volume. In 2023, she was commissioned by the Cello Teaching Repertoire Consortium and composed Suite Pequenina, an intermediate piece featuring Latin American rhythms and styles. She was also part of the New Canon Project, a program that commissioned rising diverse composers to write new graded works for orchestra classrooms and wrote Valsa para Sofia for strings. Additionally, she is working with other four cello teachers to publish a pedagogical series called “Resonance: A Multicultural Cello Method.”
Grace Catherine Politowicz is a soprano based in Aurora, Illinois. Originally an instrumentalist, an introduction to choral music utterly captured her heart. She became the youngest person to complete both CME Institute certification under the instruction of Dr. Doreen Rao, Dr. Sandra Snow, and Lee R. Kesselman and Choristers Guild certification overseen by Dr. Heather Potter. Grace Catherine also earned numerous Early Childhood Music Education certifications studying under Dr. Lorna Lutz Heyge and began classical voice training with Michelle Areyzaga all before finishing high school.
To remain under Ms. Areyzaga’s tutelage at the collegiate level, Grace Catherine enrolled at Aurora University (AU) where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, with a concentration in Vocal Performance. While at AU, Grace Catherine furthered her studies in choral conducting with Dr. Lisa Fredenburgh and Dr. Mark Plummer and expanded her keyboard skills as a piano student of Dr. Cristian Pastorello and a pipe organ student of Dr. Naomi Rowley. Grace Catherine is now a K-8 general music teacher, children’s choir conductor, musical theatre director, church musician, and preschool teacher-aid at Immanuel Lutheran Church and School. Additionally, Grace Catherine provides piano and voice lessons as well as vocal coaching from her private home studio, Grace Notes Music Studio.
When not serving her students or the church, Grace Catherine enjoys opportunities to share the gift of music as a concerto, classical, and event soloist; a singer in choral organizations; an entertainer within community theatre groups; and the Musical Director for theatre companies. Her most recent musical roles include Vi Moore in Footloose (2024), Baroness Elsa Schrader in The Sound of Music (2023), Bird Women in Mary Poppins (2023), Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2023), and Meg March in Little Women (2022).